Kentaro Miura, creator of Berserk, has died at 54

BrawlMan

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I highly recommend you all look at this now. It gives some extra info about Miura health and the stress of the manga industry.

 
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Casual Shinji

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Honestly I will say Miura's legacy is controversial to say the least. While his work was definitely a proof his dedication. Works like Goblin Slayer drew heavy inspiration from berserk and it had it's share of misogynistic ideals about female characters who serve as aeither a)objects that fawn over Goblin Slayer or B)As objects of sexualized violence. He may be a product of the boom of violent OVA anime and manga that favored machismo male leads, but his works don't really have a place in modern media without being called problematic
That's kinda like blaming Akira for works like Genocyber. I mean, sure it was a direct influence, but it's not Otomo's (or Miura's) fault that stupid people decide to interpret their work in the most shallow manner. That's not to say Berserk doesn't have problematic depictions of women, but heck, so does Lord of the Rings. Everybody obviously needs to decide what they're okay with in any particular work of fiction though.
I fully agree that the female characters in Berserk are mishandled and lacking in terms of ability to fight and defend themselves. Casca, despite being described as a competent fighter, only holds her ground once in single combat. As a character, she is only interesting in regards to her relationship with other men - first Griffith then Guts. Farnese is likewise only interesting in regards to her character growth because of Guts. The women in the manga in general lack their own agency and are often very hopeless.
I disagree about Farnese. Until the end of the Tower of Conviction arc Farnese is very interesting in her own right. I mean, it's definitely fun to see her try and be proud and powerful when confronted with Guts and utterly failing at it, but what made her interesting were her own struggles and fears regarding her religious believes, her desires, and her clouded judgement of right and wrong. If there was any male character that made Farnese the most interesting it was actually Serpico. That one flashback of them right before the Fantasia arc was probably Farnese at her most interesting.

I actually think a more problematic female depiction in Berserk is Slan. The one Godhand who's a woman and obviously looks the most hot as a result. And on top of that she's always sexually aroused and fondling herself, because you know, she's demonic. And I mean, I like Slan for the crazed demonic hellspawn that she is, but it's certainly a bit telling.
Really sad about this. Love Berserk, and pretty cut up that we're unlikely to see an ending to the story. I wanted that Griffith comeuppance, goddamnit!!
Hey man, we got the slap. Just imagine some sitcom endcredits theme playing over Rickert walking away.
 
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Gyrobot

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That's kinda like blaming Akira for works like Genocyber. I mean, sure it was a direct influence, but it's not Otomo's (or Miura's) fault that stupid people decide to interpret their work in the most shallow manner. That's not to say Berserk doesn't have problematic depictions of women, but heck, so does Lord of the Rings. Everybody obviously needs to decide what they're okay with in any particular work of fiction though
Still, given how we have attacking works for being problematic, it is only natural some people will blame creators for creating imitators
 

Casual Shinji

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Still, given how we have attacking works for being problematic, it is only natural some people will blame creators for creating imitators
There's a difference in attacking works for being problematic and adressing problematic elements that certain works may have. While Berserk has issues in the depiction of its female characters I don't think you can say it shows that Miura hates or has contempt for women, or that he has somekind of bone to pick with them. It doesn't come across as hateful toward women, at best it can be very eager in trying to sell you on how women can get victimized within its dark setting. But that's not all that Berserk is, eventhough it is worth adressing.

Maybe you can blame creators for creating imitators if it very clearly set a precedent (and purposefully set out to do so), but in the case of Berserk's depiction of women I don't think it did. At best it perpetuated a trope that was already present within these kinds of works.

But again, everyone needs to decide for themselves whether these issues are something they can look past or if it soils a work for them entirely.
 
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Gordon_4

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Still, given how we have attacking works for being problematic, it is only natural some people will blame creators for creating imitators
As tempting as it is, I’m not sure I want to blame Frank Miller or Allan Moore for their legions of imitators in the wake of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns massive success for doing surface level rip off jobs without taking the deep dive they did.
 
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Chimpzy

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So I just read chapter 364, possibly the last one. It of course ends on a massive cliffhanger.

Time to move on.
 
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Bartholen

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So I just read chapter 364, possibly the last one. It of course ends on a massive cliffhanger.

Time to move on.
Last one to have been helmed by Miura himself, no doubt. But I can't escape the feeling that we might be skipping a massive chunk to speedrun right to the end. I mean, we're right where we've been waiting to be, aren't we? Guts, Casca and Griffith finally confronting each other in a way they haven't since the golden age arc. The desperate reader in me wants to believe that we might be seeing Miura's notes on the ending playing out without the leadup to it. Even if it's sudden, even if it's rushed and but a skeleton of what it was meant to be, I still want to see the ending to Berserk. Hell, an ending at least.
 

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Last one to have been helmed by Miura himself, no doubt. But I can't escape the feeling that we might be skipping a massive chunk to speedrun right to the end. I mean, we're right where we've been waiting to be, aren't we? Guts, Casca and Griffith finally confronting each other in a way they haven't since the golden age arc. The desperate reader in me wants to believe that we might be seeing Miura's notes on the ending playing out without the leadup to it. Even if it's sudden, even if it's rushed and but a skeleton of what it was meant to be, I still want to see the ending to Berserk. Hell, an ending at least.
It's why you have to be careful when jumping into a series that's lasted since the 90s or a long running series. You don't know what's going to happen to the creators, the producers, or The voice actors. Anything can happen. Hell, it's why high School of the Dead doesn't even have an ending, because the artist for it died back in 2015. There is a backup artist that can take over, but from what I've heard, he's focused on other things. One of my favorite long running manga is Battling Angel, and I'm hoping the Mars Chronicles will be the ending of the series. Aside from the first and second volume, most of the other volumes have been flashback chapters detailing with Mars's backstory and Alita's life in the past. Hopefully when they finish with those, he'll get back to the main story and finish up.
 

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Dreiko

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So apparently Mori is the literal only person who Miura has told the full story, which apparently has been set in stone since he drew the ECLIPSE like 25 years ago. Insane to think it has been complete all this time and has followed with little deviation since for a while it felt kinda stalled. But yeah, I was kind of in disbelief when Miura died so I kinda didn't tackle berserk at all for that time, I somehow wanted it to not end like this. Hearing it won't feels surreal but I somehow am not surprised, I was positive that they couldn't let such a masterpiece remain unfinished.
 

Chimpzy

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So apparently Mori is the literal only person who Miura has told the full story, which apparently has been set in stone since he drew the ECLIPSE like 25 years ago. Insane to think it has been complete all this time and has followed with little deviation since for a while it felt kinda stalled. But yeah, I was kind of in disbelief when Miura died so I kinda didn't tackle berserk at all for that time, I somehow wanted it to not end like this. Hearing it won't feels surreal but I somehow am not surprised, I was positive that they couldn't let such a masterpiece remain unfinished.
I wonder if Mori taking over was planned. As in, Miura and Mori had a pact that if one were to pass, then the other would finish their work.
 

Dreiko

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I wonder if Mori taking over was planned. As in, Miura and Mori had a pact that if one were to pass, then the other would finish their work.
From his statement it sounded like the assistants asked him to do it and he felt kinda responsible because he's the only person who actually was told the full story. They don't have drafts or char designs so they will rely on his memory of brainstorming with Miura and will only do the bits of the story he remembers definitively and they're trying to be super respectful of his vision so this was the best way. I don't think anyone really expected him to just die out of the blue so they seemed to have been caught unaware and with no plan. It's been like a year already.
 

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Can we not necro threads like this one? I thought for a second he came back and died again.